Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-02-26
CONVICT LABOR ON THE STREETS.
The Federation Of Labor Writes 20 the
District Commissioners.

AN ARGUMENT AGAINST TIE USE OF PENAL LABOR O.
| INTERESTS OF wORKINGMEN ARE DISCRIMINATE
/ AGAINST.
To-day the following letter from the Federation
OF Labor unions was sent to the District Commits
| sioners:
| The District Commissioners:
GENTLEMEN: This organization has directed me
| to acknowledge the receipt OF your communica.
ton OF the 21St instant In which, as an answer tc
| our protest against the employment OF the chain
| gang on the Streets you quote and commend the
| act OF April 5, 1s47, which requires the employ.
| ment or certain cOnv1ctS at some useful work. We
| demur TO the suf11ciency Of this answer because
you do not alege either that the law requires such
useful work TO be done on the public Streets OF
that there other useful work the convtcts car
| do. The first allegation you could not make and
the second II made, we should at once disprove by
the fact that the law from Its enactment until the
advent OF the COnm1Ssion-that is. during the
peoples government-was carried out without
We knew OF the law. We found no fault with
that the eonvicts should Be supported in idleness
We OBJECTED only TO the present method Of its en-
fOrcenlent; amethOd which, in our opinion. brings
1t IN sharp contact with honest labor causes SUI
fering, tends % force honest laborers into the
| ranks OF vagrancy, mortif1es and hardens the re-
deemable offenders, demOralizes children who see
dne cnan gang at work imposes unequal burdens
unfair benefits upon other members. This Eede-
ration is
PURELY REPRESENTATIVE BODY,
with great constituency OF working people, and
IS especially qualified to define their interests and
voice their wishes In respect of this convict
labor matter we have long Investigated and dis
cusSed it, and we familiar with its bearings
on our interests that the efforts OF the Commits
sioners to enltghten US are perhaps supernuOuS.
awe know that it IS better for each to pay his
mite 10 support cOnv1ctS even In idleneSs, {and
this Is not involved that it is to throw them into
fatal competition with single craft or Occupa-
ton.
We know that your zeal to cure one get Of men Of
vagrancy by the tn1tctOn OF penal labor may force
another set OF men into unwilling vagrancy be-
cause their employment is taken away. We know
that when honest working men are displaced by
conSlctS on our streets the whole burden OF
SUPPORTING THE CHAIN GANG
practically falls upon the men so displaced. We
can perhaps point this by saying that under the
law OF ls47. which you quote, requiring cOnvtcts
to be employed at useful work. two OF the Migrants
could be employed as District Commissioners,
Saving the doubt that arises on the word ssusefuI
and, by imagining this to be Immediately done,
you viii understand how the displaced labOrer con-
tributes eXhOrOitant amount 10 the maintenance
or the community malefactOrS.
WeValue your suggestion that were the convicted
Migrants Idle their support would be our burden
because We are the tax payers for this makes it
our business and no one elSeS and establishes
our right TO say whether we Will assume the al
legged burden or not.
Your extraordinary statement that the trough
WORK" which '.getS itself dOne by the chain gang
Is the cleaning OF alleys and streets the habi-
this work not done in this way II could not be
done at all, may be true. But that there is a
necessity for the laborng GLASSES" to choose be-
tween the chain gang and pestience we do very
much doubt. Means are found to keep the neigh
borhoods OF non-laboring classes wholesome with
out such help, and we think similar means can be
secured for The whole city. For years Congress
has shown a Willingness TO appropriate every
thing the District asks and the strange reluctance
OF the commissioners TO ask Tor money enough to
give US sufficient schools police water, sewers,
etc., has not only excited condemnation among
our people and In the Senate, but has caused
MOST UNCOMPLIMENrARY CONJEcTUREs
that the wishes Of wOuld-be tax-dodgers and OF
various spectators have been more regarded
than the welfare OF the community. Noting your
sensitive perception OF your "duty to see that all
laws relating 10 matters over which you have
Jurisdiction and control are enforced according to
their OBVIOUS intent and purpose" We remind you
or the law which requires ali property to be as
sessed at what it Is worth in cash."
Were this done the revenues Of the District
would be doubled, and there would be money
enough TO clean the alleys near our homes. The
assessments OF the property on the new library
| made by the condemnation jury, and yet both the
assessors and the jurors TOOK like oath to truly
value said property. That which is true there is
true everywhere. 1t Is open and notorious that
small houses OF poor people are assessed up to
their cash value, while vacant lands held for spec
ulatlve purposes most tenderiy protected from
the raid OF the tax collector.
TIE MORAL CHARACTER OF OUR CITY
has been Stat1Stcaily aSSaiied, and in the prayer
meeting Judge Smell indicated 1t by accusing the
police of arresting great many persons ON every
trivial charges TO improve their records" The
clerk OF the police records In The STAR OF the 10Th
instant, SuStainS the Judge. So the apparent
w1ckedness OF the city is due TO centious tyranny
the people are not Ubiquitous but the police are
q glorious vindicatiOn,
We can add something to perfect that vindica-
ton. You write us that The chain gang alone is
near our homes You told the East washington
committee that the chain gang alone was avail
able for grading streets. Their utility for this last
work rounds out the explanation Of the creased
mechanism or the police court and shows how the
improvement" OF pOlicemen'S records and Specu-
lators lands go hand in hand. We are not blind
10 the TACT that the chain gang has graded streets
in parts OF the city where no one lived at the
time, and where one ever Will live until he has
the value Of the Work SO done Hei bay ang 1 or
gotten that our first communication was in refer
ence TO proposed use OF the chain gang In the
eastern part OF the city which, aside from keep
ing honest labor from getting the work to DO,
would simply have added to The
BENT COLLECTING loR TA1ING) POWER.
OF the owners OF adjacent land. And we have
since ascertained that OF the committee who then
solicited your aid only three were resident prop-
erty owners, and George Wilson, the COURAGEOUS
opponent OF chain gang labor was one OF these:
while The rest were real estate Spectators mainly
Interested in land at the remote end of the pro-
posed avenue and bridge.
We are therefore or the opinion that after we
pay our money to feed clOthe and shelter the
chain gang ta5 we d0 the return that get from
their ahOr In making bOuevarCiS along the specu-
laIive holdings OF land-grabbers does not at all
compensate us for the injury done such OF us as
are displaced by such labor. We again request
YOU 10 have the cOnvictS employed at some useful
labor which viii not come in concentrated conpe-
ton With any craft or occupation, and which Will
keep them out OF the sight OF the public. We
{, renew the suggestion that
An HONEST AND LAWFUL ASSESSMENT
| OF property will afford full revenue for all our
public necessities, and that Congress stands ready
to accept your word almost without question as to
what those necessities are.
Referring, in conclusion, to your expressed diff
| Gully OF understanding ''what objection a self
respecting mechanic or labOrer can have to the
employment OF these people" on the public streets
/ Uhat being all we have complained on, allow me
10 suggest that under a system OF Selr-gOvern-
ment. before you could have become Commission
| erS YOU might have had to cultivate an ability not
only TO understand but TO SympauhiZe with such
objections, and, arJer becoming Commissioners to
acquire d power of enforcing laws '.accOrtiIug To
their obvious intent and purpose in the manner
| acceptable 70 your constituents where there was
more than one manner open TO Your choice
Very respectfully, THOMAS s. DRNHAM.
President, &C.
| WASHINGTON THIRTY YEARS AGO.
| "Reminiscences Of the Days When the